(Want more details?\u00a0 Check out the blog post listing all the relevant articles and then contact the museum for re-prints!)<\/a><\/p>\n 1974 \u2013 The First TOC<\/strong> \u201cThe Tournament was the first pattern event to offer big cash prizes to the winners. An event of this type has been needed for some time to upgrade R\/C\u2019s image; much as golf and tennis have grown through the public\u2019s natural interest in big money events.”.<\/p>\n \u2022 One of the main changes made from a regular pattern contest was the use of \u201cOlympic-style\u201d judging to keep the spectators interested. \u201cDid the Las Vegas affair meet its objectives? It would seem so; many spectators were drawn to the field by the dollar sign and the attendant publicity will reap further \u201cimage\u201d rewards. Certainly the inclusion of representatives from seven foreign countries met the objective of a truly international event not associated with World Championship. In the future the event could well rival the FAI World Championship itself as the most prestigious of modeling affairs. Whether the prize money was the lure \u2013 or whether Las Vegas was the lure is unclear. It really isn\u2019t important since no one can deny that the idea that was planted in the Nevada desert, nurtured by Bill Bennett and Walt Schroder has taken root and will be a pinnacle for R\/C\u2019ers to reach for in years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Winner: Hanno Prettner of Austria Total Prize Purse: $11,000<\/p>\n 1975<\/strong><\/p>\n Winner: Hanno Prettner of Austria Total prize purse: $21,000<\/p>\n 1976<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 New elements and maneuvers were added to the typical F3A Pattern, and there was some changes to the number and method of rounds. Overall, though, the event still had the feel of a F3A Contest.<\/p>\n Winner: Hanno Prettner of Austria Total prize purse: $30,000<\/p>\n 1977<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 A Museum Scale contest was added to the TOC event line-up this year. For Museum Scale Total prize purse for scale: $14,000<\/p>\n For Pattern Total prize purse for Pattern: $30,000<\/p>\n 1978<\/strong> Winner: Hanno Prettner of Austria Total prize purse – $51,800<\/p>\n 1980<\/strong> Winner: Hanno Prettner of Austria Total prize purse: – $72,000<\/p>\n 1982<\/strong> Winner: Hanno Prettner of Austria Total prize purse: $100,000<\/p>\n 1984<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 To encourage flying biplanes, a 10% bonus was available to anyone who flew a biplane. \u2022 \u201cOver the years the competition has emphasized a trend toward emulation of full scale aerobatics. This year the aerobatic schedules directly copied full scale maneuvers in content and variety. Aircraft requirements continued to promote modeling of full scale aerobatic designs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Steve Rojecki flew what is considered to be the first knife-edge loop flown in competition.<\/p>\n Winner: Steve Rojecki of the United States of America 1988<\/strong> \u201cThis contest is structured so that the first three days are used for qualifying rounds in which all competitors fly Unknown Compulsory, Known Compulsory and Three-Minute Free Programs. The fourth, and final, day has the field narrowed to five finalists who then do it all over again, a number of times, in the same day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 The models are still getting bigger. Winner: Hanno Prettner of Austria Total prize pure – $118,000<\/p>\n 1990<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 A \u201cThree Minute Free\u201d event was added to the contest. This was an optional choice for the pilots and had a separate trophy.<\/p>\n Winner: Chip Hyde of the United States of America Three-Minute Free Contest Total prize purse: $126,500<\/p>\n 1992<\/strong> o \u201cThis TOC included three elements to test a pilot\u2019s ability: \u2022 Steve Rojecki was contest director for the first time.<\/p>\n Aerobatics Event Free Style Rivalry Total prize purse – $127, 500<\/p>\n 1994<\/strong> \u201cLike most of the spectators, I was not prepared for the size of the airplanes. After getting somewhat used to their size as they were being assembled prior to the start of competition, I was again startled by their performance. Unlike some lumbering giants I had seen I the past, these airplanes can fly!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Winner: Quique Somenzini of Argentina Total prize purse\u2013 $129,500<\/p>\n 1996<\/strong> Winner: Steve Stricker of the United States of America Total prize purse- $151,000<\/p>\n 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Rick Allison states:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Free programs are always the biggest crowd-pleaser at the Tournament, but since they count only 20% of the final score, they seldom have real impact on the standings. And the \u201coooh and \u201cahh\u201d factor builds reputations (and feeds pilot egos) like little else can. The Free is model aeronautical \u201cKing of the Mountain\u201d and while it may be fun for all, it is taken very seriously by those involved. Past Tournaments have been marked by different \u2018fad\u2019 maneuvers in the Free, but 1997 had no \u2018standout\u2019 maneuver (unless you count cross-runway takeoffs). This year\u2019s Free did have a fair number of pilots who decided to pay some overdue attention to the \u2018Harmony and Rhythm’ requirement; there was a little less \u20183-D\u2019 flash, and a lot more graceful and rhythmic maneuvering to the music -at least among those that scored well. That doesn\u2019t mean that pizzazz an \u2018wow\u2019 factor was entirely lacking. Many pilots flew lower (and slower!) than ever before, and deep-stalled maneuvers such as elevator flips and the classic Falling Leaf were included in a large number of the routines.\u201d<\/p>\n Winner: Quique Somenzini of Argentina Total prize purse: $180,000<\/p>\n 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n Winner: Quique Somenzini of Argentina Total prize purse – $184,500<\/p>\n 1999<\/strong> \u201cThe Sahara Hotel Sponsored TOC in Las Vegas was probably the best yet in terms of intense competition, beautiful flying conditions, and the lack of serious technical malfunctions (crashes) during the competition. It was a cliff hanger right down to the final flights to determine the winner. Interestingly, the final winner had barely survived the semi-final cut to make it to the finals the last day of the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n Winner: Quique Somenzini of Argentina Total prize purse- $180,000<\/p>\n 2000<\/strong><\/p>\n Winner: Christophe Paysant Le Roux of France Total prize purse: unknown<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Bill Bennett, Owner of the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino, and Walt Schroder, President and Publisher of Model Airplane News<\/em> conceived the idea to hold an invitation-only event based off of the current International Radio Control Pattern (F3A) contests. They started planning the event in the Fall of 1974. The event was held in December of the same year.
\n\u2022 This event would be geared towards spectators, and would award cash prizes. They wanted it to be the premiere Radio Control event in the world. Reporting for Model Airplane News<\/em>, Art Schroeder described it this way:<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Art concluded his article with:<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Wolfgang Matt of Liechtenstein
\n3rd place: Dave Brown of the United States of America<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/amablog-modelaircraft-org.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/TOC74-MAN0375-TOC75-MAN0376.jpg\")
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\n2nd place: Rhett Miller of the United States of America
\n3rd place: Dave Brown of the United States of America<\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/amablog-modelaircraft-org.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/03\/NMAM2005-21-19.jpg\")
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\n2nd place: Wolfgang Matt of Liechtenstein
\n3rd place: Rhett Miller of the United States of America<\/p>\n![\"On](\"https:\/\/amablog-modelaircraft-org.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/03\/NMAM2005-21-20.jpg\")
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\n\u2022 For the Pattern contest, more new maneuvers were added. Which was apparently a good thing because all the pilots had mastered the new moves added the previous year.<\/p>\n
\nWinner: Robert Nelitz of Canada
\n2nd place: Dave Platt of United States of America
\n3rd place: Phil Moore of England<\/p>\n
\nWinner: Hanno Prettner of Austria
\n2nd place \u2013 Wolfgang Matt of Liechtenstein
\n3rd place: Dave Brown of the United States of America<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 The Museum Scale event was dropped.
\n\u2022 All model aircraft flown needed to be stand-off scale of a full-size aerobatic aircraft.
\n\u2022 Models were flying maneuvers as described in the Aresti catalog, and were judged in an aerobatic box, just like full-size competition.
\n\u2022 Hanno Prettner flew his Dalotel with a 2,700 square inch wing.<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Dave Brown of the United States of America
\n3rd place: Ivan Kristensen of Canada<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 TOC was moved to every other year, off set with the World Championships.
\n\u2022 The models were bigger!<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Dave Brown of the Untied States of America
\n3rd place: Wolfgang Matt of Liechtenstein<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 The models were even bigger.
\n\u2022 According to Jerry Nelson writing in Model Airplane News<\/em>, \u201cThis year, a unique impartial section process was used for the first time.\u201d
\n\u2022 Computerized scoring and score keeping was introduced.<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Wolfgang Matt of Liechtenstein
\n3rd place: Dave Brown of the United States of America<\/p>\n![\"Bright](\"https:\/\/amablog-modelaircraft-org.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/NMAM20191040.jpg\")
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\n\u2022 Freestyle routines are beginning to play an even bigger role in the contest.
\n\u2022 Don Lowe, writing for Radio Control Modeler<\/em>, explains:<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Steve Strickler of the United States of America
\n3rd place: Ivan Kristensen of Canada
\nTotal Prize Purse: $125,000<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Rich Uravitch writing in Model Airplane News explains the contest structure:<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Many authors of various modeling magazines note that they saw things done with model airplanes that they had never seen done before.<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Chip Hyde of the United States of America
\n3rd place: Wolfgang Matt of Liechtenstein<\/p>\n![\"Rectanuglar](\"https:\/\/amablog-modelaircraft-org.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/NMAM20191043-2.jpg\")
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Patch, 1990 Tournament of Champions, National Model Aviation Museum Permanent Collection, donated by Jerry Epps, 2019.10.43.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n2nd place: Steve Rojecki of the United States of America
\n3rd place: Wolfgang Matt of Liechtenstein<\/p>\n
\n1st place: Quique Somenzini of Argentina
\n2nd place: Chip Hyde of the United States of America
\n3rrd place: David von Linsowe of the United States of America<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Norm Staub describes the contest set-up as:<\/p>\n
\nKnown sequence \u2013 40% of score
\nUnknown sequence \u2013 40% of score
\nFree Style \u2013 20% of score (\u201cMost competitors used aircraft smoke trails and music played over the public address system to enhance their presentations.\u201d) While the sequences were incorporated into the final scores, separate prizes and prize money was awarded to those who did best in this event.<\/p>\n
\nWinner: Chip Hyde of the United States of America
\n2nd place: Steve Stricker of the United States of America
\n3rd place: Quique Somenzini of Argentina<\/p>\n
\n1st place: Chip Hyde of the United States of America
\n2nd place \u2013 Quique Somenzini of Argentina
\n3rd place \u2013 Dave von Linsowe of the United States of America<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 The airplanes got bigger.
\n\u2022 Scoring emphasis was placed more on the unknown patterns.
\n\u2022 Quique Somenzini debuted what many see as the birth of 3D Aerobatics.
\n\u2022 Reporter Ron Van Putte confessed:<\/p>\n
\n2nd place \u2013 Steve Stricker of the United States of America
\n3rd place \u2013 Christope Paysant-Le Roux of France<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Sponsor switched to Sahara Hotel and Casino (teal, not pink, is the new dominant color).<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Quique Somenzini of Argentina
\n3rd place: Jason Shulman of the United States of America<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/amablog-modelaircraft-org.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/NMAM20191036-2.jpg\")
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\n2nd place: Chris Paysant-LeRoux of France
\n3rd place: Roland Matt of Liechtenstein<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Christophe Paysant-Le Roux of France
\n3rd place: Sean McMurty of the United States of America<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 According to Don Lowe in Radio Control Modeler<\/em>:<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Chip Hyde of the United States of America
\n3rd place: Christophe Paysant LeRoux of France<\/p>\n
\n2nd place: Chip Hyde of the United States of America
\n3rd place: Jason Shulman of the United States of America<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/amablog-modelaircraft-org.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/TOC02-MA0403.jpg\")
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